History

These 21 Abandoned Military Bases Will Leave You Speechless

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Wars are terrible experiences with fascinating stories that have shaped the course of the history of the now free world. And as great as they may have been such as; the Great World Wars, and the Cold War just to name a few, every war comes to an end sooner or later. And all that is left are the reminders of weaponry to military bases and monuments spread out across the world. It is one level of exciting when you read about these wars in journals and history books but a whole other level of awe if you visit some of the sites that are evidence of these conflicts.

Here is a 21 image adventure of abandoned military bases spread across the world with fascinating war stories behind their existence.

1. The Devil’s Slide Bunker.

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This bunker, on Devil’s Peak at the Coast of California, was built during the Second World War as part of a larger group of structures that kept watch over the San Francisco Bay. At this time the biggest threat looming from across the ocean was the Japanese. And a military serviceman with binoculars kept watching across the waters for any sign of enemy activity. The base was abandoned in 1949.

2. Flak Tower.

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This majestic German tower was designed by Friedrich Tamms and built using slave labor under the Nazi rule. There are 16 identical Flak Towers spread out across Germany. They functioned multi purposely as anti-aircraft defenses as well as air raid shelters and war command posts.

3. Maginot Line, France.

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Built by the French just before World War II in anticipation of war the Maginot Line comprised of a series of concrete battlements, diversions, and weaponry throughout the countryside, where the French bordered Germany, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. It was named after a French minister in the 1930s and was hailed as an impenetrable work of genius, but failed to live to its hype when Germany bypassed it later.

4. 109TH Iman Fortified.

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This Base was built during World War II by the Japanese as a protective defense against the Soviet forces. Unfortunately, it happened to be one of the many targets bombed by the Soviet military during the war. The structure still exists but remains hidden by vegetation and graffiti.

5. Saint Nazaire Submarine Base.

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Saint Nazaire began as a busy harbor on the Atlantic Coastline of France before transforming into a pen for German U-boats during the Second World War. It consisted of offices, dormitories, bakeries, kitchens, a hospital, and even electrical plants, which today are tourist attractions on the abandoned site.

6. Beelitz-Heilstatten Hospital.

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Located in the historic town of Beelitz in Bandenburg, Germany a sight of this historical hospital is like a scene from a horror film. It is known for treating Herr Hitler during World War I after sustaining injuries in battle. The Nazis found the location of this hospital to be ideal for some of their famed unethical medical experiments. There are even legends of this area being haunted by some of the victims of its time.

7. Duga Radar.

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The Duga radar array system was an ingenious structure by the Soviets during the Cold War, which acted as an anti-ballistic missile early warning system. The system was in operation from 1976 to 1989, after which they remained as massive metal structures along the landscapes of Eastern Siberia and the now Ukraine.

8. Fort Tilden.

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This historic United States Fort located on the coast of the New York City Borough of Queens was once used as a coastal artillery installation during the Cold War. This site was used for anti-aircraft guns and Nike surface-to-air missiles.

9. Shivering Sands Maunsell Army Fort.

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These beasts like structures rising out of the water were built by the Maunsell army for anti-aircraft defense close to the Thames Inlet. These towering remains of the Second World War are now ghostly statues looming over the coast of England.

10. Zeljava Air Base.

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This site was once the biggest underground airport and military base in Europe and Yugoslavia respectively. Situated near the border of Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina this air base housed MIG fighter jets. It was abandoned in the 1990s during the Serbo-Croatian wars.

11. Balaklava Submarine Base.

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This base with mysterious waterways was built under the regime of Joseph Stalin during the Cold War. The Balaklava Submarine Base operated as a top-secret military facility in case the need to retaliate any nuclear attacks arose. The base is not visible at any angle from the sea which is why it is still used today by the Black Sea Fleet.

12. Flak Tower II.

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The Flak Towers existed in pairs; that is the Command Tower known as Leitturm (which you have already read about) and the Gun Towers known as Gefechsturm, and they worked in coordination. The gun towers were equipped with auto-cannon armory that would protect forces from low flying planes. They were also armed with 123-millimeter guns that could fire 48 shells per minute towards enemies.

13. Johnston Atoll.

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The Atoll has been under the control of the US military for over 70 years now. It was gifted to the United States Navy by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1934 and was used as both an air station and a bird refuge.

14. Kalama Atoll.

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Kalama Atoll is what the locals at Johnston Atoll call it, and this land happened not only to be a bird sanctuary and air station but also a testing site for nuclear and biological weaponry, an Agent Orange disposal site, secret missile base and a space recovery site. All these activities on this land over its 70 years under the US military have contaminated it with chemical pollution making it uninhabitable.

15. Titan I.

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This base was the United States’ first Intercontinental ballistic missile built in 1959 during the Cold War. Titan I which served for six years entailed a series of three underground bunkers each of which doubled as a nuclear fallout bunker and featured water treatment facilities fresh air systems and air supplies. The design of this base was meant to enable military personnel last through a nuclear apocalypse.

16. Greenbrier Bunker.

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This facility dubbed as Project Greek Island was built during the Cold War underneath the Greenbrier as a top-secret bunker to house the United States Congress in the event of a nuclear holocaust. It was later abandoned after an intrepid reporter revealed its existence making it not so super-secret anymore.

17. Fort Ord.

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Initially known as Camp Ord when it was built during World War I, this site was used as an artillery training field for the United States Army. At the onset of World War II the camp was expanded and renamed Fort Ord. The former US army post on Monterey Beach, California was closed in 1994 and is now an addition to the Fort Ord National Monument.

18. Fort Ord – Inside.

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The inside of Fort Ord had functions of its own. It was used as a maneuver area that housed the 7th Infantry Division. The army’s training stations are now covered in layers of graffiti and garbage.

19. Nekoma.

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Nekoma was a control of the Safeguard system based in North Dakota, which was part of an anti-ballistic missile defense system. The missile site radar safeguarded computers and radar useful in tracking and defending against incoming ICBM warheads. The pyramid structure which was once a military marvel housed 30 Spartan missile launchers and 16 Sprint missile launchers.

20. Carlstrom Field.

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This field in Arcadia Florida was built during the First World War to function as a military air filed. It was later closed and re-opened during World War II, before later transforming into a hospital after the war.

21. RAF Hethel, England.

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This air base was built by the USAAF in 1942 to be used during the Second World War by the Allies. It consisted of Nissen huts that acted as temporary homes for families that lost theirs during the war. This site is located near Norwich, Norfolk, England and is now property of Lotus Cars.